Leisure: Alley Cats

It is a typical weekday in Dallas. Daddy is
at work. Baby is having his morning nap. In an adjoining room, Brother
(aged 3) is riding a new rocking horse and Sis (5) is watching TV
cartoons. And Mommy? Mommy is just a few feet away, crouching over the
foul line on Lane 53, her hip twisted sharply to the left to steer the
blue-white-marbled ball into the strike pocket between the one and
three pins. Mommy is bowling.

Whether in Dallas or Cleveland or Albuquerque or Spokane, energetic
housewives are making the bowling alley their new all-purpose
home-away-from-home. They have...